2012 Belgian Grand Prix

[hornet_burnout]

I missed most of this. So I was stuck with highlighs and the qualifying times.

But the way I see it, bold or 'desparate' (and fast) drivers gained a lot after the break.

Unless I'm mistaken, Button's 2nd fastest lap was good for pole, and he went one better. His difference as well as others, like Maldonado, to their teamates is huge. Added Hamiltons tweet on not using the new wing and loosing massively, and Alonso saying his wing hurted him a lot seam to confirm boldly chancing on new parts paied off!

I enjoied massively the top placed drivers in this qually get where they did (yes, including Maldonando), but without taking anything away from their acheivements, I believe their chancing on new hardware made the difference here.

I will miss this race as I'll be travelling and won't be able to watch it. But once agin this year, different drivers will be on top instead of the most likelly to win (like Alonso or Hamilton).

Best, season, ever (in the last decade at least). Once again things have been shuffled and the newlly fastest guys have an edge others will have to chase. Gaps on this race are now bigger than in other races where everyone has sperated by .001 of a second.

But like I said, I didn't se much and can be utterly wrong on this... What do you think?

Oh and Maldonado's penalty... Still as fast and bold as ever, but still a nuisance I guess.

 

[Akmuq]

From Timo Glock. When he first signed up, he said he was looking forward to leading the team up the grid.

What did you expect him to say?

 

[Bram Turismo]

From Timo Glock. When he first signed up, he said he was looking forward to leading the team up the grid.

He probably meant "I will guide this team to the grid and help them as much as I can from what I've learned with Toyota", instead of "I will lead this team towards points finishes under my guidance". Do you really think Timo Glock is to blame for Marussia's current position?

 

[Hollidog]

I think I would cry if there was a Sauber 1-2.

I missed most of this. So I was stuck with highlighs and the qualifying times.

But the way I see it, bold or 'desparate' (and fast) drivers gained a lot after the break.

Unless I'm mistaken, Button's 2nd fastest lap was good for pole, and he went one better. His difference as well as others, like Maldonado, to their teamates is huge. Added Hamiltons tweet on not using the new wing and loosing massively, and Alonso saying his wing hurted him a lot seam to confirm boldly chancing on new parts paied off!

I enjoied massively the top placed drivers in this qually get where they did (yes, including Maldonando), but without taking anything away from their acheivements, I believe their chancing on new hardware made the difference here.

I will miss this race as I'll be travelling and won't be able to watch it. But once agin this year, different drivers will be on top instead of the most likelly to win (like Alonso or Hamilton).

Best, season, ever (in the last decade at least). Once again things have been shuffled and the newlly fastest guys have an edge others will have to chase. Gaps on this race are now bigger than in other races where everyone has sperated by .001 of a second.

But like I said, I didn't se much and can be utterly wrong on this... What do you think?

Oh and Maldonado's penalty... Still as fast and bold as ever, but still a nuisance I guess.

It might be hard to judge, the teams have all had limited running this weekend in the conditions in which they qualified. I think some teams may have chanced it and ended up better off. Raikkonen and Hamilton both went for high downforce and suffered grid-wise.

 

[Pagey279]

What did you expect him to say?

Exactly.

Drivers who have just signed a contract for a new team are pretty much obligated to say give a similar opening statement as a new driver in that team as the one Timo gave. They need to be optimistic and hype themselves up, because if they aren't confident in their abilities, then how are they to move forward? It also goes some way to reassure the mechanics and members of that team, and help them to motivate themselves and perform as a unit to try and create a decent car, whilst in the shadow of confident, fast and experienced driver such as Timo.
However it doesn't mean it should be taken at face value, and to be believed.

And anyway there is only so much a driver can do, and in a team such as Marussia it's resources they desperately need.

 

[hornet_burnout]

I think I would cry if there was a Sauber 1-2.



It might be hard to judge, the teams have all had limited running this weekend in the conditions in which they qualified. I think some teams may have chanced it and ended up better off. Raikkonen and Hamilton both went for high downforce and suffered grid-wise.

You're right... No significant running in practice. Those guys may (Halmiton already said it) will change setup for the race, in pitstops also and will come 'alive' during the race.

If I wasn't going on vacation, I'd find an excuse to stay home and watch this one...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Those guys may (Halmiton already said it) will change setup for the race

You can't change the setup ahead of the race. You can, however, change parts of the setup during the race.

 

[niky]

Well it's moot now that Maldonado has been taken out of the equation, but while Kobayashi can be pretty aggressive, he doesn't cause many accidents. If it comes down to Jenson V Kamui into the first corner, I'd bet both will come through La Source intact.

Yes. Definitely moot. If it's Koba versus Button and Koba has the speed, it'll make for some fantastic back and forth. It was always the thrid wheel in that equation that would make it troublesome.

 

[F1 fan]

Indeed. I will still be watching Pastor with great interest at the start though. I'm really fired up for the race now. Too bad we have to wait 8 hours.

 

[ghskilla]

While you guys wait, I sleep and wake up to a nice cup of Formula One.

Hope Raikkonen takes the win, but I wouldn't mind Alonso up there as well.

 

[CinnamonOD]

While you guys wait, I sleep and wake up to a nice cup of Formula One.

Hope Raikkonen takes the win, but I wouldn't mind Alonso up there as well.

I do that everytime, and well, the thing that I like the most of watching F1, is that when the race is about to finish, the sun starts rising

 

[ghskilla]

I do that everytime, and well, the thing that I like the most of watching F1, is that when the race is about to finish, the sun starts rising

Ohh yes. I love that moment. I wake up to my lovely alarm at 5am, watch F1, then see the sunrise. Loovely.

 

[Ardius]

So fricking excited! I haven't been this excited before a Grand Prix probably since 2009 with all the Brawn fun.
Watching Kobayashi's start is going have me on the edge of my seat!

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Watching Kobayashi's start is going have me on the edge of my seat!

I think a lot of people are excited - I know I am, and it's well-documented that I'm not a big Kobayashi fan (given the reception he got in 2009, you could be forgiven for thinking that second on the grid was a regular occurance).

Jenson Button will always be the driver I support first and foremost, but I would not be even a little bit upset if Kobayashi (and Perez, who I also support) were to beat him today.

 

[Tzun]

Vettel 10th and Webber 12th, way to go Red Bull. Lol.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It seems like I’m asking this at every race: how much longer will it be before Williams reaslies Senna is a liability? Once again, he has put in another dismal performance – his fastest lap was still a second slower that Maldonado. As Maldonado proved, the car has the pace to make it into Q3, but Senna blew both his Q2 laps and missed the cut-off by over a second. He should have been dropped months ago; Williams could have put Bottas in the seat for some of the European races to see how he fared on circuits that he knew, and then brought Senna back for the final Asian leg if Bottas didn’t work out.

 

[Ardius]

Jumping in mid-season is never a clever idea. You only do that if you are really desperate.
The only teams that have changed mid-season without much reason recently were Renault with Heidfeld and Toro Rosso when they dropped Bourdais. Did Senna or Alguesuari really move those teams forward? Not really, they spent most of their seat time familiarising and catching up to the regular drivers.

Lets not forget that Senna is actually the more reliable of the two drivers to score points. So Williams are stuck in a hard place here as they obviously want to make the most of the decent car to finish well in the WCC but Maldonado is far too unreliable at finishing where he should to allow the team to test out Bottas.

Personally I do agree now though I think Bottas should be given a chance at a race just to see. If he keeps up with Maldonado and doesn't crash into people, then its a no brainer. If he's struggling to come up to speed due to his lack of experience then its basically the end of Williams points haul.

Is Senna really a liability? Isn't the entire driver line-up a liability? Maybe now people agree they should have kept Barrichello?

 

[F1 fan]

I'm happy for Senna to stay at Williams for the rest of the season. If nothing else, it will at least put the "Senna hasn't been given enough chances" thing to bed.

 

[That90sGuy]

I really want Sauber to have a win here and I don't care if it's Kobayashi or Perez. I guess after what Perez did in Malaysia this year, I've become a bit of a fan.

 

[Ardius]

I think a lot of people are excited - I know I am, and it's well-documented that I'm not a big Kobayashi fan (given the reception he got in 2009, you could be forgiven for thinking that second on the grid was a regular occurance).

Jenson Button will always be the driver I support first and foremost, but I would not be even a little bit upset if Kobayashi (and Perez, who I also support) were to beat him today.

By the way, the reason Kobayashi got the reception he did for his debut is exactly because of the danger of switching drivers mid-season with little to no testing/experience.

Kobayashi jumped in and drove solid and mature races with little experience of the tracks or the car and pulled off some impressive defensive and attacking moves. He made one mistake with Nakajima (which he has never repeated). How the hell isn't that worthy of praise? Especially after Alguesuari, Badoer and Fisichella proved that jumping in mid-season is not easy in that very same year?

Tell me you wouldn't be praising Bottas in the same way if he jumps in this year and does the same thing? In fact Kobayashi was even more impressive than what Bottas achieves precisely because Bottas is a known talent. We all expect him to be bloody good and he has got a fair bit of experience with the car now. Kobayashi was a midfield GP2 unknown with some decent results here and there, but nothing to suggest what he did on his debut.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Tell me you wouldn't be praising Bottas in the same way if he jumps in this year and does the same thing? In fact Kobayashi was even more impressive than what Bottas achieves precisely because Bottas is a known talent.

I would be, but I think things went a little too far with Kobayashi. His pass on Jenson Button at the hairpin in Abu Dhabi was hailed as the pass of the year over at F1 Fanatic - but Button had just emerged from the pits, fuel-heavy and on brand-new tyres, whereas Kobayashi was light on fuel and his tyres were in good condition. The pass was a foregone conclusion, and indeed, Kobayashi pitted within about two laps. I probably could have made it if I tried to. Nevertheless, people got carried away with it because it was Kobayashi's second race and Button had just been crowned World Champion when in reality, the pass was not really that impressive. In fact, I seem to recall Kobayashi making a mistake mid-pass that, if he was any closer to Button at the time, would have put them both out of the race.

 

[Ardius]

I don't agree that it was easy. Easy maybe for Kobayashi considering his overtaking ability.
But lets think about it for a second. You're a rookie, you have little experience of the car or indeed F1, racing a low-fueled car against a heavily fueled car. The other guy has nearly 10 years experience and just won the WDC. How do you spot your braking? Of course its easy just to say "brake later than the other guy" but as a rookie wouldn't you feel the least bit of trepidation about pulling off the move? Its easy to sit back and think that its only logical to not even think twice but I'm sure there are plenty of drivers wouldn't have pulled off that move or tried it.

To me, even though its a given pass, that just shows the maturity he has. He doesn't let pressure get to him. There have been plenty of rookies in the past who would have screwed up that pass. Even ones who later became WDCs....

Anyway, he backed up his overtaking ability quite a bit.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I just think there were a whole lot of other passes that year that were much more deserving of the title "Pass of the Year".

 

[Famine]

Hamilton is currently Twitting his and Jenson's laptime traces, to show his straight line speed deficit...

I was wondering about the wisdom of this - given that we know he chose to use an older wing because he couldn't get the new one to work right while Jenson chose to stick with the new one and we could see the straight line differences - when Lucas Ordonez added:

I would never share telemetry of my team on twitter. Even racing at Cadwell Park in a Nissan Micra... #Confidential #lessonN1

 

[Ardius]

I just think there were a whole lot of other passes that year that were much more deserving of the title "Pass of the Year".

Well I definitely agree on that point. And certainly some people exaggerated and over-reacted to his debut.
But I don't the general response was without good reason. It was an impressive debut.

Hamilton is currently Twitting his and Jenson's laptime traces, to show his straight line speed deficit...

I was wondering about the wisdom of this - given that we know he chose to use an older wing because he couldn't get the new one to work right while Jenson chose to stick with the new one and we could see the straight line differences - when Lucas Ordonez added:

Why is this reminding me of one Jason Plato? Maybe because it sounds like he's awfully desperate to prove that once again, circumstances have gone against him and its all someone else's fault.

Just get on with driving Lewis, stop talking, you make a fool of yourself the more you do it.

 

[DaxCobra]

Hamilton just tweeted this:

It's an overlay of his and Jensons lap.

 

[Tzun]

Hamilton is a real whiner!

 

[nissman]

There should be 2 hours of qualifying and 4 hours of racing, thats how much I enjoy watching F1 in Spa!

Kobayashi FTW!

 

[DaxCobra]

Hamilton is a real whiner!

Well, maybe if you needed a win to keep your championships alive and you see you have the fastest car but went with the wrong choice of wing so now you are very slow, you'd be a bit annoyed.

 

[Famine]

At yourself, for your choice.

But sharing team telemetry, to prove a point we could all see through the split times? On Twitter? Really?